"Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth."--_1 Sam. 3:9._
HANNAH brought her little son Samuel, to be brought up in the holy
place by the High Priest Eli.
Samuel was very good and holy, and God blessed him and loved him. One
night, when everyone was gone to bed, but the lamp in the holy place
was not yet gone out, Samuel heard a voice calling to him, "Samuel!" He
sprang up at once, for he thought that Eli had called him, and he ran
to Eli and said, "Here I am, for thou didst call me." But Eli answered,
"I called not, my son; lie down again;" and Samuel went back to his bed.
Then again came the voice calling to him, "Samuel!" and again he
thought it was Eli's call. He was not lazy, or fretful at being roused
out of his sleep, but he ran at once to Eli, and again said, "Here I
am, for thou didst call me." But Eli sent him back to his bed again;
and there again he heard the call, "Samuel!"
Patiently he once more rose and came to the old man, but this time Eli
knew that it must have been no other than God's own voice speaking to
the child. So he bade Samuel go back, and next time he heard the voice,
to say, "Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth."
And so Samuel did. Again his name was called, and he made answer,
"Speak; for Thy servant heareth."
And God spoke to him in the still night, and told him to give Eli
a fresh warning of the sad things that were coming on him and on
his sons. Samuel was forced to tell Eli all in the morning, sad and
mournful as it was. He was afraid and grieved to have such things to
say, but he told the truth, and Eli was too good a man to be angry with
him, and only said, "It is the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: GOD TELLS SAMUEL OF DESTRUCTION OF ELI'S HOUSE.--1 Sam.
3:11.]
And, after that, God often made His will known to Samuel, and blessed
him, and all Israel knew that Samuel was God's own prophet. Think of
the great honor and blessing of having God so often speaking to him!
But we have that blessing too. God is nearer to a little Christian
child than He was to Samuel; for the Holy Spirit speaks in a Christian
child's heart, and tells him to be good and dutiful, and to think of
God, and say his prayers with all his heart. And that is better than
even being a prophet like Samuel. Only we must take great care to
attend to that voice; or it will leave off, and then we shall get worse
and worse, like those bad sons of poor old Eli.